I had something similar happen a month ago when I flew PVG-LAX. About a week before the flight, the seatmaps and EF numbers all went to near zero. I had pretty much given up any hope of an upgrade, and was getting used to the idea that I'd be sitting in my PE seat.

Then about 2-3 days prior, the seatmap opened up again, at least in business. I had a little hope. I woke up at 3am on the day I was leaving and logged in to AA, saw I was upgraded. I was able to select a different seat (I was originally given the last row window H, I selected a seat a few rows forward window A). It was good that I did check, as they had pulled the seat assignment for my LAX-AUS flight, and thankfully I was able to grab another similar (from exit F to exit A)...and I did not get upgraded on that flight.

I was staying in Suzhou and had no idea how long it would take to get to PVG, so I left rather early and arrived around 2pm. It gave me plenty of time to check-in, go through immigration, security, and enjoy the Air China lounge. The AA check-in agent told me the pass was good for the business lounge, but when I went to the desk they escorted me to the F side.

The flight ended up completely full. I tried to figure out who was sitting in my PE seat, but couldn't really...it was a male, around 30, and I'm guessing not an employee, but I could be wrong. I was so thankful that I was upgraded, as since I was up so early I nearly passed out as soon as I sat down. They had to wake me for the meal, then after I ate I fell back asleep for much of the remainder of the flight.

I flew LHR-JFK last week on a 77W. While the seat map is not a surefire indicator of availability, when it shows over 30 empty seats in J, that IS to me a surefire indicator of availability, but even so, it was only about 30 hours prior to departure when my reservation showed the telltale "the details of your trip cannot be displayed." I gave it a few hours, but with T-24 fast approaching and the same legend still showing, I called the German number, which was picked up in England. The AAgent there could not see that I was being upgraded, so I then called the EXP line in the US, got the "our agents are busy, we can call you back between an hour and a half and an hour and three quarters from now" (which was not going to work for me) and gave up. At T-18, when I had Internet access again, I saw that I had been reticketed, and at least had a good choice of seats. (Even after my upgrade had cleared and a seat assigned, there were 32 others to choose from.) As it turned out, I was able to get my first (and only, as the other 3 options were appalling) choice of meal, so no harm, no foul, BUT it is absurd that AA would not clear UGs earlier for its EXPs in this case. Thanks a lot, Doug.
Just confirms my decision to leave.

Please continue this discussion in our thread for 2019:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...er-thread.html

Thanks.


aztimm